Cultural life at the University of West Hungary

Cultural life at the University of West Hungary is diverse and abounding. Here we can only enumerate the annually organised central cultural programs and the artistic groups.

The first cultural event of the New Year is the celebration of the Day of Hungarian Culture and the announcement of the prize winners in the competitions held for students. On the birthday of our national anthem students with an enterprising spirit and creative talent compete with their masterpieces of literature, music and works of fine arts, which can be seen at the virtual exhibition hall on the homepage of the university.

Two representative events of carnival time are; the choice of the wine of the university for the given year and the organisation of the university ball. The wine competition organised jointly with the Sopron Wine Marketing Association invites wine growers of the Sopron wine region to participate every year. The renowned professional and non-professional jury awards the honourable title “The Wine of the University of West Hungary” to the best deserving of the Bluefrankish and Bluefrankish based Cuvée wines qualified by the National Wine Qualification Institute. The winning wine is presented at a wine tasting at the university ball and is used for representation purposes by the heads of the university in the given year.

The anniversary of the 1848/49 revolution and freedom fight is the first among our national commemoration days; it is celebrated in common with the Local Government of the City of Sopron. At the „Youth March – Sopron” festive programmes, heads of the university deliver speeches, our students (reciters, musicians, dancers) provide the festive program and a decorative lining up in their uniforms (waldens) at the memorial places.

The commemorative ceremonies of the 1956 revolution have a prominent role among our national holidays, which are held at the memorial places of the university campus. The university professors and students of that time were decisive participants in the Sopron events of the revolution. Their heroism and willingness to sacrifice and the memory of their fellows forced into emigration to Canada is guarded with reverence by the present citizens of the university at the MEFESZ memorial plaque on the building of the Faculty of Forestry, at the watch-fires and at the monument erected on the occasion of the semi-centennial of the ’56 revolution in the botanical garden.

The greatest central cultural event of the university is the traditional festive concert held every year at Advent. The artistic groups and soloists of the faculties present their performances this evening.